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Fiction: The Familiar Mask

It’s hot, un-comfortably so. The dizziness of hours ago has turned rapidly into headache which makes it feel as though someone has ripped off my forehead. The environment is familiar but all so new at the same time. Disorientating.

The light can only be described as uneven, shining un-naturally brightly in some areas but failing to light others. It has the strange offshoot of a person not being able to see the hand one has used to shield your eyes from the light.

I’m surrounded by others, but they are a million miles away from me. Simple conversations and concepts seem to be beyond these life forms. Yet they still manage to antagonise me in their very being. Maybe I’ve been here too long. After a while time blends so it is difficult to ascertain how long even the simplest task has taken.

I can barely remember the time before. The time when I arrived at this place, adrenaline flowing in line with a new challenge. Now I am battle weary, confidence shot. Alone in the crowd. The other inhabitants of this place continue to press the correct buttons in the correct order in the hope that the all powerful will notice and release their torment.

Fools.

Or is it more fool me. I should know better, I should escape this territory and move on. I am trapped. I am trapped by a foe far more deadly and hideous than you dear reader can ever imagine. His onslaught is relentless and varied. He forces me to return to this place again and again. Leading me to believe that each time will be better than the time before. He laughs at me from behind a familiar mask, benefiting from my toil.

My fleeting freedom is soon here. The hope, the fresh air. The empowering solitude to attempt forget the horrors and the heat of now. It is futile. I know I will return once again here, the Office tomorrow. My familiar mask in place.